


Solace

by Triddlegrl



Series: Lycan Verse [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Werewolf!Blaine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 08:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/648806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triddlegrl/pseuds/Triddlegrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt thinks he's getting a dog, but what he actually gets is Blaine, an alpha werewolf in exile for crimes against The Guild. Blaine thinks he's getting a new jailer, but what he actually gets is Kurt, the only man who has ever made him feel not quite so alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who has the highest claim? To hear a tale of dire adventures.

By the time he remembered his name it was too late. The blood was on his hands, metaphorically speaking. In reality it was everywhere, on his paws, coat, and muzzle. It was the only evidence left- the rest of it seeped into the earth around the torn up remains of a wolf he’d once called friend and brother; a wolf whose name was forever blackened in his mind.

Names were important. Human beings called them by many names. If they were educated and being politically correct they called his people lycans - short for Lycanthropes; they’re being studied. Some say they have a disease, some believe them to be demons. In reality they aren’t something the mortal mind can understand. They’re inhuman, alien, and they are feared.

“WEREWOLF!”

The shrill screaming of a panicked woman assaulted Blaine’s overly sensitive ears. Ears that could pick up the heart beat of a mouse from forty paces did not take kindly to such high pitched sounds. His head was already muddled from the depleting haze of blood lust and he weaved on his paws, trying to make use of his rioting senses.

He’d killed, and then he’d run. He had to run because a wizard would be coming. That’s right.

Blaine snapped his jaws threateningly at the caterwauling woman crouching in front of the nylon tent to his left and she fainted into blessed silence.

_“I can’t stay here.”_ Blaine thought to himself. A wizard was coming, he knew that. Wizards were tricky and this one, he knew it would be _this_ one, was hot on his tail. He would have to find a restroom, change skins and take the risk of being walked in on. Blaine sprinted away from the woman and her tent just as another figure fought its way through the tent opening and opened fire.

He heard the shots but he ignored them, heard the cursing of a deep male voice but he ignored that too. He was faster than the gun and he had bigger things to worry about than a couple of frightened campers. He couldn’t stop. Not with Ian after him.

He couldn’t believe Ian had tracked him so quickly. He hadn’t known he was going to make the kill practically until Boyd’s throat was buckling beneath his fangs so how could Ian have known? Now he was cornered miles from home, no one in his pack within telepathic distance and he feared he wasn’t going to be able to outrun justice. Not this time.

It went against every instinct he had running. But what else could he do?

An alpha did not run from enemies! Why should he be forced to run for his life, hiding from the wizard when _he’d_ only done what should have been done in the first place, what the wizard had failed to do! But the wizard had the support of the council and the council would have condemned him. Blaine _had_ gone rogue. He’d killed one of their own and he’d committed the ultimate crime by killing a human being.

The killing of a human was strictly forbidden in lycan law, but Blaine was unrepentent. One hunters death would save the lives of many and as for Boyd....

Boyd had deserved to die.

Wes might be content to let the council deal out the justice but Blaine couldn’t stand it. He’d tried. He’d tried to live with Dave’s injuries, with the sound of his broken howls beating at his skull day in and day out and he just couldn't. The thought of Boyd serving a few years then being given the freedom to do it all over again had nearly driven him mad.

He was the alpha, he’d failed to protect his people once and it had cost Dave everything. He couldn’t afford to do it again.

So, he’d killed the bastard and that was that.

Unfortunately the council didn’t see it that way. Now Blaine was the one running from justice like some mongrel .

Here _he_ was, the alpha, running from an enemy with his tail between his legs. He was little better than the lowest dog and when the wizard caught up, then he’d look it too. He’d be made into some simpering doe eyed mutt who ate from a dish and served the whims of mere men. Lycan’s were not pets and to be a pet to the very people who denied them even the most basic rights, many would rather die. Blaine did not quite want to die, even now, but he didn’t want to be a stupid dog either.

The wind picked up and under his coat Blaine’s skin prickled as if an electrical current had passed over it and he shuddered. This wizard was here. He’d lost and soon he’d be better off dead than what Ian would turn him into. The thought was not to be born and quite frankly it pissed him off. Fine then. He was done running. If he had to go down then Ian was going to hurt for it.

He sensed the net bursting seemingly out of nothing to swoop down on him before he saw it. He turned and with the agility born to his kind dodged the reaching fibers. He was turning and leaping a second later, his jaws clamping around the wrist of the man who was standing where only moments before there had been no one. Blaine let out a howl of pain as he felt hot blood fill his mouth. The wizard’s blood burned like acid.

The blood was cold and after the initial burning sensation it numbed his teeth and tongue. Blaine promptly let go, howling in pain and dragging his tongue through his coat to rid it of the magically tainted blood. His ears were still wringing with the sound of his own mournful howls so he nearly missed the gratifying whimper of pain and muttered curses from the wizard.

Glaring up at the man with graying hair, who was dressed in an startlingly out of place business suit, he growled. Ian snarled right back.

“You fool, that’s precious magic you just wasted.” Ian reprimanded, his english formal and brilliantly articulated, an accent that usually soothed Blaine.

_"Stay away from me! I won’t let you do it, Ian. You’re not turning me into a mongrel!”_

Ian sighed but didn’t look too sympathetic, what with his bleeding wrist and all. Belatedly, Blaine thought he might want to have tried to wheedle his way out of punishment, but it was a bit late for that now.

“Blaine, nobody wants this. You have served your kind faithfully for many years when it was not fair to ask so much of one so young.” Ian pinned him with a serious stare. “You weren’t ready. Perhaps this is as much my fault as yours. You are fortunate that this is only a year sentence. Not many would get off so lightly for unlawfully taking the life of a mortal.”

_“You know what he did! He deserved everything he got!”_ Blaine screamed inside his own mind and Ian’s eyes clouded with something stark and painful.

“Yes.” Ian agreed quietly. “Be that as it may, giving it to him was not for you to do. Come now, let’s not make this harder than it needs to be boy. What kind of dog would you like to be?”

_'What kind of…’_ enraged, Blaine lunged for Ian again. He was consumed with the horrifying image of being small and weak and unable to communicate with another living soul. Alone inside a body not his own. Ian, more wary this time around, blinked out of existence and reappeared just out of Blaine’s reach.

_‘Stupid wizards and their Magic,’_ Blaine thought. _“Fight fair, wizard!”_

“And I suppose fair would be allowing you to vent your temper on me?” Ian asked with a lifted eyebrow. “Come now boy I am giving you a choice. I don’t offer that to everyone.” Blaine snarled and snapped at Ian, who again used his magic to avoid the angry lycan.

“I suggest you stop that. I have made many an alpha wolf into a poodle and…ah I can see you don’t like that notion, but really you did bite me.”

****  
In all the years that Kurt Hummel had known Finn Hudson he hadn’t yet figured out how to say no to the well meaning idiot when he got an idea stuck in his head. Kurt had ended up in all sorts of places and situations that he’d later promise himself never again, only to end up right back where he was, walking beside his step brother and bemoaning his own idiocy.

“Would you believe I just developed an extreme allergy to anything with fur?” Kurt asked the taller man beside him as they walked into Tail and Paw Pet Rescue. Finn was an infamous dog lover; he’d begged for a puppy every Christmas of their childhood but due to his mother’s allergies the answer had always been a firm no.

He and Finn had each spent a year in the dorms at OSU before they’d had enough of weird roommates and had gotten a tiny place together off campus. Finn had begged for a dog and Kurt had always fallen back on the ready excuse that it was against the terms of their lease. Then Kurt and his boyfriend Eric had gotten serious and they’d eventually gotten a place of their own. They’d been together almost six years before it had all fallen apart rather suddenly. Eric had left Kurt alone with nothing but a note and a few abrupt phone calls, grappling with the pieces of a life that had a six year relationship at its foundation that was suddenly in tatters.

Since the break up Finn had been worried about the amount of time Kurt spent alone with nothing but the memories and a hundred reminders; so, he supposed, Finn crashing at his place somehow ending up in the both of them scouring all of Columbus for a dog somehow made sense.

“No.” Finn frowned at Kurt, looking about as stern as Finn’s slightly dopey face ever did. “Come on Kurt, I can’t stay forever and do you really want to be locked up in that house all by yourself?”

No. No he didn’t. The last thing he wanted to do was come home everyday and look at the town house he and Eric had been renting to own and be reminded of his own loneliness. The thing was he wasn’t really a dog kind of person, but maybe having something else to focus on would do him some good. He’d do just about anything right now not to feel so worn out and gray.

“You do realize that when I get tired of this thing you’re taking it off my hands?” He warned, but at Finn’s bright grin he just had to roll his eyes. Of course that was Finn’s plan all along. For someone who usually appeared to have all the cunning of a couch cushion Finn could sure be crafty when it mattered.

Kurt was about to say something on the subject but there was a small, frazzled looking man making his way towards them, shouting a welcome.

****

The restricted area of the Tail and Paw was a dismal place by anyone’s standards. The walls were blank and a miserable shade of brown. They were lined with tiny gray cages that housed even more miserable looking animals.

The black Labrador furthest from the door looked the most miserable of them all.

_‘One month down and eleven more to go. You can do it.’_

There was no denying it. Blaine was going stir crazy. Never mind being lycan, Blaine was a naturally active person and now most of his days were spent in this less than spacious cage. That was sort of his own fault. He’d been put in the restricted section after his last escape attempt had ended up in him biting the guy who’d caught him.

Blaine wasn’t sorry about biting that guy or any of his other human jailers. If he couldn’t escape then he wanted to be left alone, to wait out the rest of his sentence in peace. He wasn’t interested in being “rescued” by any of the human families that came looking and he made his sentiments known.

Add in the fact that he was unusually large, even for a black lab, and scaring the humans into leaving him alone was not all that hard. Every family that came through the rescue and dared to look at the animals in the restricted section scurried away from the pen holding the massive black dog with the unusually sharp teeth. Blaine played it up, always sure to throw himself against the bars of his cage, snarling like he had a particularly bad case of rabies.

It wasn’t all just for kicks. Blaine was partially convinced that if he threw himself against the bars enough they would eventually weaken and break. If they did there was only a small chance he’d make it out of the building before being caught but at the very least he might make it far enough to get some fresh air. The stench of dogs and the sweat of human bodies irritated his nose so badly that he wanted to scratch it off. Lycans kept themselves very clean and even when they weren’t their scent was rich and earthy; a perfectly nice scent. Men and dogs just plain stank.

At Blaine’s whimpering sigh the beagle in the cage opposite him growled and Blaine snapped his jaws in challenge.

_‘I don’t want to hear it Beagle boy; I could eat you if I weren’t in this cage.’_

Talking to only himself for the last month had become a practiced habit, one that both kept him sane and reminded him that he was slowly going insane.

_‘That is if this tick doesn’t suck out all my blood first. I think I have a tick. A really big nasty tick is sucking my blood and I can’t fucking reach it because I’m trapped in this godforsaken body!’_

Blaine like any self respecting lycan had never had a tick in his life- despite years of tromping through wilderness- but one month as a damned dog! He threw himself against the bars again, this time purely in frustration.

****

The trouble with picking out a pet when you didn’t want one was of course not finding a single one that you liked enough to bring home. The pug with the one crooked ear had been cute enough, if one was into such things. Kurt decidedly wasn’t so he and Finn passed cage after cage of all different types of mutts and not a single one measured up to Kurt’s admittedly exacting standards.

“What about this one?” Finn asked, stopping in front of a small cage that housed a white _thing_ that was more fur than dog. “It’s not big like the other one, and you could like braid its hair and stuff.”

“Oh yes.” Kurt smiled with an acidic grin. “And afterwards we can do each others nails and watch Desperate House Wives.” Finn nodded eagerly, totally missing Kurt’s sarcasm and Kurt rolled his eyes. “No Finn.”

“But dude-”

“Hair, fucking everywhere. No.”

“None of these animals fit your tastes sir?” Next to them their guide frowned, stepping between them quickly to prevent what was only going to be yet another squabble between the two. “Well on the phone your brother said you were looking for a companion. Something to take care of and take your mind off things?” The short fellow asked and Kurt glared at Finn because he _really_ had felt the need to make him sound desperate to this complete stranger.

“Yeah totally.” Finn agreed. “Not something boring like Puck’s cat that just stares at you like it’s going to kill you but something that’s going to want time and attention.”

That was actually the last thing Kurt wanted but before he could say so the little man was nodding.

“Well in our back room we have our special cases. These animals may have been through some sort of trauma or are otherwise damaged in some way. They often need to be separated from the other animals.”

“In other words they’re either biters or cancer ridden,” Kurt responded glumly and Finn gave him a harsh look.

“Dude they can’t help that; you might as well take a look. Maybe taking care of a sick dog will take your mind off the fact that you got dumped.”

“Fine!” Kurt snapped, desperately just wanting Finn to shut up. “I’ll pick one, I’ll even give it a day before I drop it on your doorstep. Just lets be done with this.”

Finn the tactless idiot just smiled and happily followed the man to a back room. Kurt dragged along behind them.

****

_“That smell... it smells like...”_

Blaine halted his efforts to gnaw at the itchy patch on his back, his ears perking up and his nose twitching as a pleasing scent tickled his nostrils. After smelling dog shit, sweat, and molding kibble for a good month this new scent that was approaching was heaven sent.

It was something light, just a tad bit sweet and floral and it mingled with a spicy layer of deodorant. Underlining that was the musky smell of human sweat. It was high summer and even the best deodorant couldn’t hide that particular smell from his sensitive nose but it wasn’t overpowering at all. All of it blended together, the sweet flora with the spices and the sweat, in order to make _this_ scent. It was the best damn thing he’d smelled in a month.

He heard approaching voices and the heavy thud of footsteps. One he recognized as belonging to Phil the annoying owner. He was prattling on about the desperate need of the animals in the restricted room. The other was was more interesting. Light and melodic as a woman’s and yet this voice was decidedly masculine if one had ears like Blaine’s and judging by his sarcastic tone the man was seeing right through Phil’s bullshit.

_“You and me both man. So do us both a favor and don’t even think about taking me home.”_ Blaine thought.

Just to cinch the deal he put on his best snarl and pressed his face against the cage. Just like with all the others. If this man got too close to his cage he’d show him that this dog just was not the one for him.

****

So Kurt wasn’t exactly a dog lover but even he had something to say about the state of the restricted section. He couldn’t help the flash of anger he felt as the owner led them into a small back room piled high and cramped with cages. It was dirty, it was dank smelling and every single animal in the place looked as miserable as it was possible to look. He couldn’t really blame them. This was no way to treat a rat nevermind a dog. He shot the owner a glare but the man wasn’t focused on either him or Finn. He was glancing warily at the angry, snarling…

_"I’ve never seen a dog that big."_ Kurt thought.

“Way cool. You guys keep wolves here?” Finn asked, proving just how smart he was by skipping up to the cage as if the gigantic black animal didn’t look primed to bust out of its cage and swallow the first thing it encountered.

“Please stay back sir. That one bites. Uh... as for the breed. We aren’t sure.” The owner muttered nervously. “Some sort of Labrador...Husky mix... maybe.”

Finn, disregarding the man’s warning not to get too close, jumped back with a yelp when the dog suddenly lunged at the bars of its cage, shaking and rattling them in what appeared to be an effort to wrench the door off with its teeth. Kurt found himself grinning at Finn’s terrified face because it was all Finn’s fault that they were in this awful place anyway and he was okay with him suffering a little.

“He’s got a pretty coat. I think I like this one,” he mused, taking delight in Finn’s gobsmacked look. He slowly approached the cage, trying to get a better look at the animal. Kurt couldn’t say what happened then. As he approached the animals snarls quited to low growls that slowly dissipated into silence. The animal stared at him with ears pressed flat to its head. It stood as still as if it had frozen and man and dog simply watched each other. Kurt could not look away. It was the eyes.

Bright angry eyes, not quite brown and not quite green, regarded him with intelligence that seemed almost human shining from within. He had never understood people who treated their pets like they could _really_ understand anything but these eyes seemed to speak as well as any man’s. Man and dog stared at one another, neither of them wanting to be the first to look away. Kurt had the crazy thought that he was being judged somehow.

_I dare you_ , something seemed to whisper between them and Kurt didn’t know how or why, he simply knew that if he bowed his head and backed away he’d have lost somehow...and he’d be weak. As weak and wrecked inside as he felt and he was damn tired of feeling weak and wrecked.

“You really don’t like me do you...” Kurt glanced down to read the name tag taped to the door of the dogs cage. “… Blackie”

At the sound of the name whatever spell had held the canine in thrall was broken and he threw himself back against the cage, barking and snarling. Kurt did not jump back as Finn had, though it was a near thing and his heart started racing. He was more startled by the sight of rage he saw in the dog’s eyes. Could a dog feel something as layered as rage? Weren’t their instincts more basic? Didn’t rage require some sort of thought?

_“You’re reading far too much into a dog Kurt.”_ He reprimanded himself. _“The miserable thing is covered in dirt, it’s trapped in this smelly hell hole and it’s stuck with a name like Blackie. I’d be biting people too.”_

“You shouldn’t snap you know. I really do feel your pain, but no one’s gonna want to rescue you if you carry on with that attitude.” Kurt whispered softly towards the the irate dog, resisting the instinctive urge to dip into some sort of baby voice. He hated people who talked to their pets like that and call him crazy but he felt like Blackie would appreciate it about as much as he appreciated the name Blackie.

“As you can see this one is severely hostile,” the short man who owned the place, Phil or something if he remembered correctly, began to explain. He tried to maneuver Kurt towards some of the other cages and Finn eagerly put space between him and Blackie’s cage but Kurt hesitated. The truth was he didn’t want to be stuck with any dog, but if he was going to be.... he bit his lip and glanced back at the dog’s cage to find the animal watching him, gaze dark and pensive.

“Honestly I can’t see how anyone is going to want that one. We’re going to have to have to put him down fairly soon.” Phil prattled on and at the mention of putting the dog down Kurt snapped to attention. He didn’t think about much beyond that.

“I want that one.”

Phil and Finn looked frantically between each other and Finn was the first to pluck up the nerve to ask, “Which one Kurt?

“That one. Bl-” He just couldn’t call such an obviously fearsome creature Blackie for godsake. “Just that one.” He corrected, pointing toward the Labrador's cage.

“Kurt are you nuts? He looks like he eats people.” Finn said with a gulp, glancing warily at the dog.

_"yeah, Kurt what the hell’s gotten into you? That thing definitely looks like he wants to have you for a midnight snack."_   He thought to himself, way too much after the fact. " _Why do I always get myself into these situations?"_

Kurt walked back to the cage watching the animal tense and follow him with its eyes. He leaned over, just a little and slowly brought his hands up to the cage. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest it kind of hurt but he couldn't take the animal home if he couldn’t get close to it and he’d figure out why later but he really wanted to take him home now.

“Listen.” He spoke quietly and he could swear the dog straightened to do just that. “You may not like this, and believe me coming here and getting some large smelly animal that is going to get hair all over my furniture and pee on my floor was the last thing I wanted to do with my day, but here we are. I’m really your last resort buddy. You can take your chances and hope someone else crazy comes along before they put you down or you can check the attitude and come home with me.”

The dog of course did not reply but as Kurt settled his hands against the cage bars and the animal did not lunge to bite them he figured that was agreement enough.

“I’ll take that as a yes. And I promise if you let this man get you out of here and into the car with me and Finn the first thing I’ll do is give you a better name. Deal?”

****

_“So is this guy blind, deaf, dumb or all fucking three? But whose more the idiot, the crazy man adopting me, or me going home with the crazy man?_ ”

Blaine couldn’t really say why he was letting Mr. Kurt Hummel take him home. The most obvious answer was that if he didn’t he’d have to fight his way out of the Tail and Paw when they went to put him down, and there was no telling how that would go. He’d probably end up shot. But more honestly... Kurt hadn’t backed down when he’d challenged him and he’d spoken to Blaine like he was a person and not as in ‘small child’ person, but man to man. Blaine didn’t realize how desperately he had missed that until it was being given to him.

That and Kurt smelled really really fantastic.

So he’d go home with Kurt and he’d decided that the first chance he got he’d run away. He’d go somewhere to serve out the rest of his sentence in peace and when it was over he’d go back and reclaim his pack. In the meanwhile, the giant oaf that kept glancing back at him in the back seat as if he thought Blaine was going to leap up and maul him would be fun to play with.

Hey, months in captivity. He needed to get his kicks somewhere.

Blaine growled at Finn and he got great satisfaction in watching the humans hands clench on the steering wheel. He felt Kurt’s hand come down on the back of his neck in something like a soothing pat and he was tempted to arch back into the touch it felt so good. Which really wasn’t good for Kurt because that put Blaine in a _majorly_ bad mood.

Blaine snarled louder, turning to bare his teeth at the man in warning.

_“Now it’s your turn to listen. I don’t give a fuck how good that feels or how good you smell Kurt, I’m nobodies pet! Don’t touch me.”_

Mr. flora and spices could just remember that when he thought about getting all handsy with Blaine. He was going to go home with him, park his rump on his floor and not move for the next eleven months if he didn’t run away to do it somewhere else first. As soon as his twelve were up the Wizard’s spell would wear off and he would be home free.

He would never have to see Kurt or his brother again and he could put this utterly humiliating existence behind him. He was a god damn alpha and he would not.... quiver like that as Kurt scratched at the back of his neck. Damn it!

“There. See. You like that. Was that so hard?” Kurt asked, smiling down smugly at him and Blaine would have bitten him if his damn tongue weren’t flopping uselessly out of his mouth blocking his teeth.

“You know Bl- shit. Okay. First thing’s first. The name has got to go,” Kurt announced and since Blaine wholly agreed with that he didn’t even growl at him as he continued to scratch the back of his neck. “What should we call you?”

“How about T-Rex?” Finn prompted from the drivers seat and if Blaine’s eyes could roll he’d have rolled them. He settled for a warning lunge and didn’t even mind too much when Kurt pulled him back by his chain. As long as the giant in the front seat didn’t offer any more bright ideas.

“Don’t worry. I think I’d puke if I had to call anything T-Rex.” Kurt assured him, glaring at Finn before he turned back to stare at Blaine with a considering gaze. “Though... Rex is kind of fitting. It means king you know. You have a kingly way about you. I could stand Oedipus Rex. What do you think?”

Oedipus Rex, the tragic king of Thebes. Blaine may not have grown up to marry his mother, and he hoped he’d never have occasion to stab his own eyes out, but he knew something of the tragic heroes woes. Little did Kurt know that he _was_ a king in his own right and he actually had gotten there by the blood of his father.

“The company is doing Shakespeare right now.” Kurt explained almost as an afterthought, as if the characters presence in his mind needed explaining. “At one point I play the Sphinx. ‘What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?’”

_“Man,”_ Blaine thought in answer, whining low at the beautiful sound of the other man’s voice. Oh to be a man again. At least then he could thank Kurt for a name that didn’t make him want to pull an Oedipus and start gauging his ear drums.


	2. This above all, to thine self be true.

The dreams always started out the same. He felt the urgency, the hunger in his blood to kill. He heard the screaming, first a woman and then a man. Something would tear in his heart and then something else would lunge up out of the dark. A hunter, his gun glistening in the moonlight. He’d strike without thought, without remorse.

The howls would come next. The entire pack crying at the moon as he turned and lunged for the other man, the one who wasn’t human in any sense of the word.

 _Fuck you. I hate you._ He could never figure out which one of them screamed it first. Always Blaine would wake whimpering and whining, his legs tangled in Kurt’s designer rug.

He’d been there a couple of weeks. He hadn’t run like he planned to. First it had been the prospect of a good meal, then it had been the lull of sleep from a full stomach, that made him stay. One thing after another. Kurt lived in what Blaine could only call a stylish little house in Columbus. A place much too big just for one person and it didn’t take long for Blaine to piece together that someone other than Kurt had once lived there and that whoever they were, they had left blank spaces all over the house.

He’d watched Kurt aimlessly filling in those spaces, completing the picture of a home that was all Kurt, bright sleek and chic, and less anything that had come before. Kurt was an intriguing mystery. That was reason enough for Blaine to wait out his sentence in his home. More honestly though....

“Hey, Rex.” Blaine heard Kurt’s soft footfalls before he spoke. The man knelt down next to the coffee table Blaine had been sleeping under. “House rules remember? You don’t wake me up in the middle of the night for anything and I remember to feed you.” Kurt’s voice still gruff with sleep, was teasing more than it was annoyed. Every night when Blaine had the nightmare he seemed to wake Kurt, though he would have hoped he wasn’t whining loud enough for Kurt to hear. He cringed just thinking about it, whining in his sleep like a frightened puppy was embarrassing.

Nevertheless he was never quite himself after the dreams and so rather than remain churlish and distant as was his usual practice with Kurt, in the night he would allow the man to stroke his side and mummer softly at him.

More honestly he was afraid he’d lose his mind if he lost the one person who treated him like a man.

****

“Hey kiddies, daddys home.”

Blaine looked up from the dust bunny he’d been watching roll its way under the couch and glared up at the young human that walked through the front door. He’d been living with Kurt for exactly four weeks and damn was the man hard to puzzle out. Besides Blaine the only other pet he owned was a little yellow canary in a cage that he called Pavarotti. He loved to talk to the bird like it was an infant and unfortunately when he was addressing them both Blaine had to suffer being talked at like he was a drooling pup. But otherwise Kurt treated Blaine as if he weren’t covered in fur at all. He was oddly perceptive for a human.

Stubborn as a damn mule too. He ignored each and every one of Blaine’s blatant ‘leave me the fuck alone’ signals. For someone who constantly went on about how much he hated dogs he sure insisted on roping Blaine into his daily routine. Blaine thought that Kurt did that a lot, pretended to dislike things.

 _“You’re definitely not my daddy, Kurt. I don’t recall you raising me for one and well...if we’re talking about the other. I’m the alpha here.”_ Kurt couldn’t hear any of his inner grumblings of course but that never seemed to stop Kurt from talking to him anyway.

“Don’t be such a grouch, Rex. You really don’t have it so bad.” Kurt admonished as he hung up his traveling bag and coat by the door. He glanced over to where Blaine lay on the couch and smiled sardonically at him. “What, no rushing to the door to greet me? No barks for joy at your master’s safe return?”

_“You think you’re so cute. Don’t you,Kurt?”_

“Oh you think you’re so bad don’t you, Rex?” Kurt asked, crossing the room with determination. Blaine tensed, sensing too late Kurt’s intentions. Why why why did Kurt’s hands have to feel that good?

He shouldn’t encourage him. He should be able to will his body to stop writhing beneath those magic hands but there he was, flopping over onto his belly, tongue lolling out like some kind of an idiot.

“You like to pretend like you don’t want this. There’s no need. I’m happy to indulge you, Rex,” Kurt grinned down at him. Smug bastard. “It’s not asking too much for a hello when I get home in return is it? Hmmm? You going to be happy to see daddy when he gets home from now on?”

Kurt was purposefully using the baby voice on him, Blaine just knew it. Smug little creep. With more effort than he’d like to admit it took he rolled out from beneath Kurt's hands and shoved him back onto the couch. Rather than be frightened of the enormous black dog leaning over him Kurt started laughing, high and clear.

“That’s more like it,” he said. “But don’t lick my face. That’s disgusting. Daddy would have to throw you outside on your head and the neighbors would call PETA.”

 _“Lick you? I ought to bite you just for that.”_ Blaine growled, and to anyone else the sight of him leaning over Kurt with teeth bared would have been horrifying but Kurt didn’t seem in the least perturbed by it. Damn him. Did he know what his smell, what his defiance- what his freaking magic hands- did for Blaine?

Things he’d rather not think about. If this boy were lycan....

“You gonna bite me, Rex?” Kurt asked, grinning up at him like the annoying little imp he was.

So Blaine licked him instead. He’d have laughed at Kurt’s horrified squeal if he had the ability to do so.

****  
Kurt couldn’t figure Rex out. He couldn’t really figure what he was trying to figure out about a dog but he knew that Rex wasn’t exactly normal. Finn would be the first to tell everyone that Rex didn’t do the things that a dog was supposed to do. He didn’t like going on walks, he didn’t like people, he didn’t like chew toys, he didn’t like running, he didn’t like much of anything.

Some of that was okay with Kurt as most of the things that dogs loved to do, such as chew on things and just be annoyingly in the way, Kurt wasn’t all that keen on. He would however, at least like to know that the animal in his care was happy. Rex did not seem happy, in fact sometimes when Kurt would sit just observing him like he was now, he’d get the silly whim that Rex was the farthest from happy. That he was in fact haunted by things.

He had bad dreams. Kurt hadn’t even known if dogs could dream but he’d done some research and of course no one knew for sure but it wasn’t as far out of the water as he’d thought. More than one scientist would back him up.

“Hey, Rex. Come here. Come to daddy.” He called from where he sat in the kitchen, experimenting. He saw his ears perk up so Kurt knew that Rex had heard him but the dog only growled low. Otherwise he didn’t so much as move from where he lay sprawled on the couch in the living room.

Seeing that Rex, as usual, wasn’t going to come Kurt gave in and went to him. He really was a beautiful animal, all lean muscle and big pretty eyes. Sometimes Kurt got the urge to just sit and stare into them. Rex was such a puzzle.

In his cage by the window Pav twittered happily and Kurt whistled a few happy notes in response. Unlike Rex, Pav always seemed happy to greet him.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to learn a few things from Pavarotti you know,” Kurt said as he plopped down on the couch next to the dog. “A man could get a complex trying to befriend you. You’ve got a lot going on under all of that bark I think. I bet you wish you could tell me in a way I’d understand. Don’t you?”

If only Kurt knew.

“Yeah,” the man sighed, idly stroking Blaine’s side. “I wish you could too.”

****

Kurt sang a lot. The first time had taken Blaine so off guard that he’d gotten up off the coach and followed the sound all the way up to Kurt’s bedroom. He’d been singing to the damn bird, both of them going along as if they’d been born to be duet partners. Kurt’s voice was something special.

Blaine had always liked music. He hadn’t had much occasion to enjoy it since becoming alpha-major, but listening to Kurt sing it was unmistakable. Even he knew he was hearing something rare.

****

Kurt hated to admit that Finn was right about anything but having someone else around, even a someone who couldn’t talk back, made Kurt feel better. When his birthday came around and he got calls from everyone but the man he’d devoted six years of his life to (among other things) it was comforting having someone to talk to who couldn’t interrupt, who couldn’t judge or give advice he wasn’t ready to hear. He could cry and Rex wouldn’t tell anyone that he’d slipped again back into ‘I care I care and I’m not over it’.

Rex was a good listener, and Kurt liked to think that his sparse (but still more frequent than he’d like) pity parties actually did something to help the dog trust him. Maybe he was just being an idiot and the dog was getting used to him, but since the first time he’d curled up on the couch and blubbered out his woes Rex had been different. Maybe curling up next to Kurt and licking his face was some sort of canine bonding ritual that made it okay for Rex to come when he was called, made him more apt to acknowledge Kurt’s presence when he entered a room.

Whatever it was his angry closed off dog was opening up and Kurt didn’t mind that at all.

This time the tears weren’t over his love life- thank god- but a failed audition for a role he’d deserved god damn it but wouldn’t get because people were narrow minded idiots. True to what was becoming habit when Kurt walked in the door eyes too glassy and spine too stiff, Rex had leaped off the couch to meet him. Paws on his abdomen and tongue at the ready to lick away the tears Kurt only felt okay to spill in the privacy of his home.

 _“I’ll have to thank Finn some day.”_ Kurt mused to himself, stroking the dog’s head as he smiled fondly down at him.

“Thanks for listening, Rex.” He murmured softly and the dog thumped his tail against the couch.

****

With every day that passed Blaine slipped out of reality and into a fantasy. In this fantasy world the past slipped away. He did not need a mouth or magic to speak because there was Kurt. Kurt understood his silence, Kurt was his voice and so it was only right that he be Kurt’s solace.

He was the warm thing Kurt needed to hold as he put his life back together, the ears to listen, the shoulder to brace himself on. He had tasted Kurt’s tears, licked them from his face and let them soak into his coat. There was no way for Kurt to know but there was a magic in that, a bond that was created; but he knew that Kurt felt it. Blaine knew he knew by the simple stoke of his hands.

A wolf didn’t taste just anyone’s tears. Kurt was his now, ly-kindred, marked, and Blaine would always treat him so. As alpha-major it was his job to see to the needs of the pack. As Kurt was now kindred his needs had become Blaine’s top priority. So if his feet were chilly as he sat reading in the evenings it was really okay to curl up over them and if Kurt didn’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning for his morning run, Blaine was only doing his duty dragging him out of it and hurrying him out the door.

Sometimes Kurt would take him to the park on Saturdays so that he could memorize lines or catch up with his friend Tina. She had this fat little pug named Ringo who had gotten it into his head that Blaine was his best friend and eager to play. Blaine really _really_ wasn’t but dogs were stupid and this one dimmer than most.

What happened that particular Saturday wasn’t really his fault and it couldn’t really be called playing, not really. That Saturday Tina and Ringo had met them at Kurt’s as usual and the four of them had walked to the park. Well Kurt and Tina had walked. Blaine had sprinted, trying to avoid Ringo who was insistent on hanging on the back of his tail like it was some sort of game.

Kurt had found them an empty space to lay out the blanket and he and Tina had plopped down and let Blaine and Ringo off their leashes. She’d been going on and on about some guy named Mike she’d started seeing, who was apparently ‘super’ mysterious. She’d jokingly wondered if he was some sort of vampire and Blaine had been in the middle of thinking that this Mike guy might very well be, when it occurred to him for the hundredth time that if he was ever going to run that now was the perfect time.

_"Why are you still here? Really ,Anderson, it’s not like you owe him anything. You have a pack that needs you remember? Why not make your way back to the pack and serve out the rest of your time there?”_

But like every time before, and truthfully he knew every time to come, Blaine stayed. He told himself that his pride couldn’t allow any of his pack mates to see him as he was.

_“Wouldn’t Wes just love it? I’m wearing a collar for God’s sake. It tells the entire world that some human owns me. It’s mortifying.”_

Blaine didn’t regret it but even more embarrassing was the fact that he’d gone and actually started to like the man who dared to think that he could own an alpha wolf. He’d even made the man ly-kindred. Oh heaven help him.

_“How do you get yourself in these messes, Blaine? Think before you act man, think!”_

But it was so hard not to like Kurt. Sometimes Kurt was all energy, song, and chatter. So mesmerizing to watch that it made Blaine’s head hurt just keeping up with him. And other times he was quiet and thoughtful, reading books or looking over potential scripts with a scholarly frown to his soft pink mouth that Blaine found intriguing. Kurt was bright and funny, tramping through the house half rehearsing lines, singing along with his Ipod, talking to Blaine and whistling to Pavarotti.

He was kind and gentle. Kurt treated him and Pav like they were his baby chicks and he some doting mother hen. He bedazzled Pav’s cage for different occasions, he hand stitched several covers to keep the canary warm when fall closed in. He knit Blaine winter sweaters that he refused to wear, he gave him baths and combed his hair. His acidic tongue reprimanded with every step but his hands betrayed him with a tenderness that spoke louder than his words.

Oh Kurt could be a sarcastic little bitch when he wanted but Blaine couldn’t care less that Kurt honed that sharp wit on him. Kurt could speak to him however he chose as long as he kept speaking to Blaine like he saw the man inside. He and Kurt were of similar age and Blaine was not unfamiliar to trials and pain. He’d always had to be strong, truthfully he’d had to be strong before his time. But Blaine would have had to have a heart of stone not to feel for Kurt as he whispered in the dark about his childhood and his high school, his dream city and all of the dreams that had gotten deferred over the years. There were far too many times that this man’s heart had been broken and he’d had to force the pieces to scar back together.

Blaine didn’t think it weak at all that Kurt cried. It wasn’t pity that had him licking at Kurt’s tears the few times he’d let them fall. Blaine had never had occasion to really respect a human before, but he respected this one. He saw him and what he saw pleased him. So he did what any of his brethren would do and took his pain into himself and became his solace. It was a simple sort of magic, but old and deep, something Kurt couldn’t help but feel even though he had no idea at all that it was magic that surrounded them, magic that knit them together.

So Blaine didn’t run, he put up with Ringo and he actually liked Tina a bit. And since he had to spend so much time around the pug Blaine decided that he would do the pup a favor and teach him how to be a real hunter. Ringo might need some survival skills if he ever found himself alone without Tina. Every self respecting male should know how to fend for himself. It was hunting and a favor to an adolescent in need. Not play.

The ducks in the park never saw them coming.

****

“I really shouldn’t give you this. You sir, caused me a lot of trouble today. What got into you?” Kurt scolded the dog at his feet with a sardonic lift of his brow. “Although the look on that poor guy’s face when he got a face full of ducks  _was_ priceless, I’m still less than pleased with you. I can’t believe I had to go chasing you around like some child, Rex. I stepped in duck poop. Can you even begin to understand how unhappy that makes me?”

Rex stared eagerly up at him, his eyes glued on the treat jar. He was trying to hold himself still and aloof but his butt was wriggling against the floor so enthusiastically it was a definite give away. It was so ridiculous looking and Kurt was so stupidly fond of the mutt that his face split into a grin despite himself.

“Yeah I know, ‘just gimme the treat, Kurt’.” Kurt did an impression of what he thought Rex might be thinking and did just that, extending his hand and letting the dog snatch the treat up. He wolfed it down like he hadn’t eaten in years (despite having his bowl filled twice a day). His whole body wriggled with joy as he chomped. Kurt actually thought he’d have stopped if he was at all aware he was doing it. Kurt had figured out that behind Rex’s hardened exterior he was nothing but an overgrown puppy inside. Whatever had happened to make him so hostile towards people Kurt had to be doing something right because the real Rex, this wriggling sloppy tongued goofball was coming out more and more.

Kurt hated to say that Finn was right about anything but worrying about someone else and having someone to care for, it made it easier to forget how broken he felt. When something would remind him it was like he’d turn around and find that while he’d been otherwise occupied things had been shifting back into place and old wounds closing up. He’d have to thank him some day.

****

Lycan’s were a protective breed but no wolf was more protective than an alpha. It was the Alpha’s job to keep every last pack member safe, a hefty job. A job that Blaine knew all too well the sting of failure. The failure to protect what was his still haunted his sleep, would haunt him forever no doubt, so he took Kurt’s protection seriously.

Kurt wasn’t exactly a social butterfly but he had visitors over to the house on a fairly regular basis. Usually though it was either Finn with his girlfriend or Tina. Kurt was a red blooded healthy young male so on the rare occasion that he stayed out all night and came back smelling of sex and foreign scents Blaine knew of course what he’d been up to. But never before had Kurt brought a man back to the house with him. Blaine didn’t know exactly why. Probably because he was unsure how his extremely unpeople friendly dog would behave.

“So I think you’ll like him. His name’s Josh and I met him at that bookshop I was telling you about.” Kurt chattered anxiously as he zipped around the front room, tidying things that did not need to be tidied. “Please be good about this, Rex. I’m really nervous to be honest. This is my first real date in forever and I want it to go well.”

_“Let me state for the record I hate this guy already. You’re special, Kurt and you deserve something special. I wish I could bring you to the pack, let someone select you, but that’s never going to happen. So if you must get stuck with some boring human male you’ll get no protest here. You shouldn’t be so lonely, Kurt.”_

“It’s just that... I get so lonely in this big house by myself.” Kurt said as if he’d heard Blaine’s thoughts. “Not that you’re not the best company, Rex.” He assured him fondly, reaching over to rub his head. “I hope he’s a dog person, because I promise if he’s not, he’ll get the curb.”

Glancing down Kurt saw Rex wagging his tail and he smiled when the dog licked his hand as if to say thank you.

“Ew. House rules remember. We keep our tongues to ourselves,” he reprimanded, though he supposed it didn’t do much good to scratch behind the dogs ears as he did so. “Josh seems nice and I rarely get to meet people outside of the theater. You know how the theater scene in Columbus drives me crazy. I should snatch him up, he could be my last chance on a relationship that doesn’t revolve around whisky and what could-have-beens.”

Rex made a gruff sound, one Kurt imagined could only be interpreted as a snort. The dog nipped his fingers.

“First, no biting.” Kurt tapped him hard on the nose. “And second, that’s really easy for you to say! Look at this, look at me. I’m talking to you like you understand me. I can’t spend my entire life in this house with you and Pav like some crazy animal whisperer. I refuse to be the male equivalent of the crazy cat woman. You’ll like him, I’m sure you will.”

Blaine growled and rubbed his head against Kurt’s side rather hard. He didn’t need to be a dog whisperer to interpret that gesture.

Not likely.

So Lycan’s are protective. Kurt’s ly-kindred which means he is a brother to wolves, a human to be protected and cared for as one of the brethren. A human who had been judged by an alpha as worthy and therefore open for selection, open for biting and conversion.

It was a huge honor and had the circumstances been a bit different Blaine would have taken Kurt to his pack where there were any number of worthy males for him to mate with and not this...this... floppy haired ignoramus standing in their living room.

“Narley space, Kurt”

_“Narley? What kind of asshole says narley?”_

Blaine kept pace at Kurt’s side where he’d been since the strangers arrival and where he’d stay as long as the stranger was in their home. Josh was tall and dark haired with the ugliest face Blaine had ever seen. He was the foulest, puniest, human specimen that ever walked the earth hands down he was sure of it.

 _“Chill, Anderson.”_ He tried to calm himself. He knew how important this was to Kurt and unworthy or not, if Kurt wanted this human.... So be it. _“He can’t be that ugly. Kurt likes him.He’s really anticipating spending the night with him._ ”

Blaine knew, he could practically smell the rise in testosterone. His primal senses were tingling and reacting.... appropriately. Worrisome, but he consoled himself with the thought that he was an alpha and it didn’t really take much to turn them on. The smell of Kurt’s arousal was pretty much going to turn him on no matter what. It wasn’t Kurt specifically that was… _“Hey back off!”_

“FUCK!” Josh cried, jerking his wandering hands away from Kurt’s ass. “Your dog just bit me.”

_“I nipped you, you big baby. When I bite you you’ll know it.”_

Seriously how could Kurt want this whiny pathetic excuse for a man? He really could do much better than this, he was ly-kindred for god’s sake. More importantly he was Blaine’s and Blaine took care of what was his. Even if it meant protecting Kurt from himself.

“Rex!” Kurt swatted at him uselessly with his hand. “I’m so sorry, Josh. Rex takes a while to warm up to strangers. He didn’t hurt you did he? I’d feel awful.” With his head cocked that way and that abashed little grin playing with his lips it would take a stronger man than this soft human to stay mad at Kurt. He smiled and Josh swallowed and up went the testosterone levels.

_“Be hornier, Kurt, please. I’m sure that’s the way to lasting commitment. Not that you’ll get it from this asshole. He’s got one thing on his mind.”_

So what Blaine did, he did for Kurt. Because Kurt wanted a soulmate and humans were really at their hearts selfish creatures. Now lycan’s, lycan’s mated forever.

Kurt deserved a forever kind of love.

****

“No you come back here! You come out this instant, Rex!” Kurt hollered from the hallway. Blaine wasn’t hiding exactly, alpha’s didn’t run from fights, he just thought it would be better to wait to talk to Kurt when he wasn’t actually determined to throw him out on his head like he’d always threatened. “I know you did something. No way would Josh ran out of here with his pants down just to have a laugh. I swear to god you rotten little beast that when I find you I’m going to ship you to the pound!”

After a few more minutes of shouting and stomping around throwing doors open Blaine heard Kurt heave a sigh and slide down against the wall outside the bathroom door. Blaine, good at interpreting Kurt’s moods by now, hopped out of the tub and stuck his head around the door in time to hear Kurt groan. The young man put his head in his hands.

He didn’t know weather to be angry with the canine or laugh. The thought that Rex had followed Josh into the bathroom when he went to go take a piss was enough to make him shudder and giggle at the same time.

He knew he wouldn’t want to be in a tiny bathroom with Rex. Especially if the dog was snapping threateningly and he was in the middle of taking a pee. The harder Kurt thought about it the more he was tempted to giggle. Still he tried to be stern with the animal.

“Wasn’t that a little harsh? Couldn’t you have waited until after he was done using the toilet... or you know I got laid or something? It’s been awhile. I’d have appreciated it.”

Rex had such expressive eyes and the irate possessive expression he most likely only imagined he saw in them finally decided things for Kurt. He wasn’t angry. He laughed, hugging the dog to him and planting a kiss on the crown of his shaggy head.

“Jealousy is a compliment I guess but we’re going to have problems if you do this again. I’m a boy you’re a boy, and I guess that wouldn’t be such a problem if we weren’t completely different species. I don’t do inter-species, no matter how cute you are.” Kurt scratched behind his ears.

_“Of course you don’t. But I’ve marked you, which means that if I bit you, you’d be like me. Only I won’t bite you obviously but some wolf is going to want to because you’re too perfect not to want to mate with and then you’ll see Kurt. Lycan males are so much better than anyone human you’ll ever meet, Kurt. I promise.”_

“So you’re just going to have to get used to me bringing guys around.” Kurt continued on and Blaine had never been more frustrated that Kurt couldn't actually hear him. “At least so I don’t spontaneously combust because seriously the blue balls are killing me. We have a deal?”

_“Fine. But don’t get attached to anyone. Trust me you’ll thank me one day. Lycan’s do that better too.”_

Blaine licked his face and Kurt laughed again, this time doing nothing to hide the fact that he enjoyed the sloppy kiss.

 

****

Blaine was a smart man. He’d had to be smart to outwit his own father and take over the pack so young. He’d had to be smart to keep them all alive as long as he had.

So it shouldn’t have taken him so long to realize that his plan to take Kurt and offer him to the pack for selection had one fatal flaw. He didn’t want one of his brothers getting a look at him, smelling him, and wanting him for a mate.

Simply because Kurt was his.

But there was a problem with that too. Kurt was a hundred percent human. Not that that couldn’t be changed, but forced conversion was frowned upon and carried with it penalties and converting Kurt would change his entire life.

Kurt had a career, friends... a family. Blaine had met Finn of course and he knew all about his father Burt and Finn’s mother Carole. He knew them from pictures and overheard phone calls and he knew them best from whispered conversations in the dark where Kurt would open himself up and pour out his history. He met them all when he and Kurt drove to Lima for Christmas and again for Burt’s birthday a few months later.

The day Kurt got the call that his father had suffered a heart attack was the day that Blaine ached to be a man so badly that his bones hurt with it. Kurt had frantically called Tina to get her to agree to feed him and Pav and Blaine had gone nuts. No, Kurt couldn’t leave him in Columbus when his heart was breaking so loudly Blaine could practically hear it. Not when there was pain screaming across their bond and Kurt needed his solace.

Kurt had thrown himself on him, wrapping his arms around him, making shushing noises through his sobs and that was all Blaine needed. He immediately began licking his face, thinking a thousand comforting thoughts that Kurt would never receive and earnestly pouring his energy into the magic. He would soak up Kurt’s pain like the greediest of sponges if he had to, make himself sick with it but Kurt absolutely could not leave his side this way.

Kurt was his.... his mate.

Oh. Well... he really should have seen that one coming.

 _“Take me with you.”_ He’d pleaded. _“I want to be with you._

“Come on boy. I need you with me.”

And Blaine had gone. He’d stayed at Kurt’s side whenever he could be. He carried what burdens he could, provided what shelter he was able, and he’d observed a kind of love between father and son that made him ache for all that he’d never had anything like it.

It broke his heart, not because he’d gone without, but because he knew he could never take Kurt away from this. Kurt could never be fully a part of his world. He wasn’t going to bite him. He couldn’t. Not if he wanted Kurt to be happy.

There was a problem with that too. Settling that in his mind seemed to make Blaine down right miserable.

Burt got better. They went back home to Columbus and the months ticked by. Their time was running out. The fairytale he’d been living in was ending. He’d finally found a man he wanted to mate with and... and it just wasn’t to be. Oh well. There would be another....surely?

_“You’re a sad sight, Anderson. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Look at you: sleeping in his bed, eating from a dish! You’ve let this man turn you into his pet. That’s all you are to him you know. What did you think? You were going to turn back into a man and he was going to look into your eyes and fall in love or something crazy like that?”_

Blaine laid his head woefully on his paws as Kurt scratched the back of his head. This time last year he’d been desperate for the end of his sentence. Why couldn't he still feel that way? Why did the thought of leaving Kurt and never seeing him again make him feel so hollow inside? For a moment he wished he was a real dog like Ringo. He wished he had never had a human thought and never knew what it was like to yearn as a man. He wished that what he felt for Kurt was as simple as dog and master, as man and his best friend.

It wasn’t, would never be, because at the heart of it Blaine simply wasn’t a dog. He wasn’t exactly human either. He was lycan, and Kurt was right, they were separate species. Even when he returned to his natural form they would be separated by that. Kurt would never agree to be turned and leave his family.

_“God, why are you doing this to yourself? Stop thinking about it. Human/lycan bonding is beneath an alpha’s status. Everything you’ve done is beneath your status. You’ve lost your mind, Anderson, and if anyone knew...the whole pack would be in danger. You couldn’t even count the number of challenges you’d get. What good will it do to feel this way? In one more month you’re going to become a man right in front of his eyes and he’s going to think what all humans think.”_

Kurt was going to think that he was a monster, an abomination, a man eater. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t true; Kurt was going to be appalled to learn his dog was actually one of the dreaded werewolves and possibly die of a heart attack.

 _“You don’t have a choice, Blaine. You have to leave before the change. You should have left ages ago but you were too weak to do it. You can’t be weak. The pack needs you! You have to protect them... that’s all that matters.”_ It wasn’t of course, but that’s all that Blaine could afford to matter. He was their alpha.

***

Kurt didn’t know it of course, he couldn’t know it, but it was at the start of that last month that he first dreamed of Blaine. Not Blaine as he knew him, but Blaine as he really was.

The dream started out in a forest. He was in the middle of a group of young boys, he was young like them and they were all naked; all of them equally unashamed to be so. They seemed to know him, though all of their faces were strange to him...and yet. Not. There was something familiar about the shortest boy, as if he had known him once in a dream or another life.

 _“Tonight. It has to be tonight.”_ A brawny boy with dark hair said and they all looked to the shorter boy, the one with the wild black curls and bright eyes. They were too... too much to simply be called hazel.

 _“Tonight. Tonight.”_ The circle of boys agreed.

 _“He will hunt us,”_ the boy with the dark curls warned and Kurt felt cold fear settle in his belly; but stronger was the way his blood ran hot and thirsty. It made his skin itch.

 _“Let him hunt us. Let him die. We die as it is anyway,”_ Kurt heard himself say, only it wasn’t in his voice. His eyes weren’t his own, this body wasn’t his either. The boy with the hazel and yet more than hazel eyes looked to him, looked inside him and Kurt wondered if he could see him where he hid inside this boy who was not Kurt.

_“I will not force you. Rather I ask you brother. Will you take this chance with me? Will you be at my back and at my side?”_

Kurt nodded. He felt with every instinct that this body would give its life for this boy, that the heart pounding fiercely in his chest was deeply tied to him, beat for him. He knew that it was so with the others as well. This boy was alpha, brother leader and King.

The boy nodded and strode away from them. The circle of boys parted like a sea and let him pass, eyes glued to him with rapture. They were waiting at the edge of a knife point. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

The boy stopped and turned. He said to them with a voice not quite steady, _“If any would follow. Answer the call.”_

Still they waited, waited until he had disappeared into the trees. Kurt’s breath came in heavy pants, his body thrumming with tension.

And then there it was. The alpha’s howl. Kurt’s bones burned as he shifted until his human body was no more. He was wolf now and he threw his head back in a howl with his brethren, answering his alpha’s call with a gusto that was sure to be heard by the other. And it was. The challenge did not go unanswered, for there could only ever be one alpha.

The first, the elder-the father, howled far to the east and it sent a chill of warning down Kurt’s spine. He felt a tug in his chest, a burning. He was defiant. They were defiant. But they had to be. For the pack, everything was for the good of the pack.

His alpha, the younger-the son, he howled again and Kurt felt his spirit ease. It was time to hunt.


	3. The End in The Beginning.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All good things have their end but not all endings are final.

It’s amazing really how fast time will pass when you don’t want it to. Kurt dreamed of Blaine once a week before the full moon. He barely remembered the dreams upon waking but sometimes he’d spend long hours in the dark before falling asleep at night yearning for something he couldn’t describe.

It was more than companionship, or romance, or someone to share his big empty house with. This longing started deep inside and spread everywhere else. It ate him up inside like a hungry worm.

His days were peaceful. He went to work and what time he didn’t spend at work he spent at home with Rex. It should have been a boring existence, Tina insisted it was a pathetic one, but Kurt was happy. Honestly he was. Aside from the weird random bursts of need at night he was the happiest he’d ever been.

Blaine was not. Each day that passed bringing them closer to the end was agony.

And then of course the end came. As it always had to.

_“Time‘s up, Anderson. You absolutely have to leave tonight. You should have left sooner.”_

It didn’t matter how many times Blaine had tried, he hadn’t been able to leave any earlier than the last day of his sentence. He wanted every last bit of time with Kurt that he could get screw the risks. He heaved one great big doggy sigh and licked the hand that dangled between Kurt’s knees.

Kurt was sitting in the kitchen pouring over the latest script. Each moment that ticked by drained what little time they had left. Blaine glanced at the clock. Eleven-thirty. He was out of time, so out of time. He had to run away before the clock struck midnight and he changed back into a man right in front of Kurt.

Steeling himself to the inevitable, Blaine crept out from beneath the table, forsaking the warmth of the shelter of Kurt’s legs for the cold of the kitchen tile and a life without him.

He went and scratched at the door.

****

“How do we know Blaine’s here again?” Jeff asked, shaking his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. It was six minutes to midnight and the night life of Columbus was buzzing. The bar he and his companion stood outside of was called the L.Z. Moon and it was vibrating with fast earthy beats the air inside thick with pheromones and testosterone.

A seedy club in the middle of Columbus, Ohio was not one of Wes Montgomery's favorite ways to spend a night, but it was an ideal place for Jeff to keep himself occupied while they waited for the midnight hour. Jeff was Wes’ protege, sort of a mix between godchild and apprentice. It was his job to teach the adolescent the things he would need to know to be declared an alpha. So far all Jeff appeared to be interested in however was food and sex.

“Because, Ian’s been keeping an eye on him. He was adopted by a young man that lives near here and he remains there still.” Wes patiently answered Jeff’s question, then with a stern frown that didn’t quite reach his eyes he reprimanded him. “And don’t question your betters.”

 _"What are going to do, Wes? Huff and puff and blow my house down?”_ Jeff asked through their telepathic link. He at least had the sense not to challenge him openly, but the shit eating little grin on his face gave him away.

 _ _”Watch it cub or I’ll huff and puff and kick your ass in. How about that?”_ J_ eff ducked his head submissively as Wes expected but he didn’t miss the way he rolled his eyes before he did it. Impertinent pup.“Come. It’s nearly midnight.” It was getting late, too late to be out in the open when the change came.

Jeff followed him reluctantly out of the bar but as soon as they hit the open air the bounce came back to his step.

“I can’t wait to see Blaine again! The council’s verdict was so bogus! Blaine didn’t do anything wrong,” the lycan teen declared vehemently and Wes sighed. They’d had this conversation about a million times and still the cubs (and even some of the alpha-minors) of the pack just didn’t get it.

“He broke the law,” Wes reminded him.

“Fuck the law. Boyd killed Sally. He had her skinned alive. He deserved what he got.”

Wes didn’t want to hear any more. He just wanted to get Blaine and take him back to the pack.

“Yes. We’re all aware of what Boyd did but it was not Blaine’s place to punish him or the hunter that skinned her. He broke the law and that is the end of it. Are you going to stand there yapping pup or come with me to welcome him home?”

Without a further word between them, either orally or telepathically, they left the bright lights of the street and merged with the deeper shadows of the night.

****

“I can’t believe you have to go out at this time of night. We’ve already been out and I wanted to finish act two before I went to bed.”

Blaine ignored Kurt’s grumbling and instead soaked in the sound of his voice. These would be Kurt’s last words to him, this would be the last he ever heard that beautiful voice say anything. He wanted to say so much himself right now. So he did, had to say it, even if Kurt couldn’t hear him.

_“Kurt, I’m so sorry about this. This is going to hurt you so much and I never meant to hurt you. I’m not supposed to hurt you. I am your alpha your...well, I think I could have been your mate if things were different. I wish things could be different. You know that in the last month I’ve thought about just asking Ian to make me a dog permanently? Yeah. You have no idea how tempting that has been and what... what that means.”_

Blaine stopped and looked up at Kurt. He had to memorize that grumpy look on his face. He took in the way his body moved, the way his teeth pressed against his bottom lip. He wanted Kurt to lean down so he could lick his face.

_“I’ve thought about running away, just for a little while, and getting Ian to do it permanently so that I could come back. That terrifies me because this isn’t me. I have a life. A family of my own and I want it back, I do. I miss the moon._

_“I wish you knew how it feels to have her singing in your blood, her magic coursing through your veins. It’s the most powerful feeling in the world. It’s who I am, Kurt. It’s not that I regret who I am with you... it’s just that it can’t last.”_ Blaine looked up at the moon, then back at Kurt, desperately wishing he could understand.

_“I want to show you my world, but you have a life of your own. Besides, who would take care of Pav? No, my friend you were right. You can’t do the whole inter species thing."_

Blaine rubbed his body along Kurt’s leg, a low whine escaping him. Kurt frowned and stooped down to look him over with concern.

“What’s the matter, Rex?” He glanced around, searching the shadowy street corner for some sign of what had the dog so upset. “Something out there got you scared?”

_“Just the thought of life without you.”_

“Do you think you could do your business soon boy, so we can go home and get some sleep?”

_“Yes. It’s time for both of us to go home. Goodbye, Kurt.”_

Blaine threw himself forward and bolted.

“REX!” Kurt shouted as the leash tore from him hands and the sound of it tore at something inside Blaine.

He heard Kurt calling after him and for one fraction of a second he almost did it, he almost turned his head to look back. Had he looked back and seen the surprised roundness of Kurt’s eyes, the pain that twisted up his face as he watched his best friend disappearing into the night, he would have stopped and gone back, but thankfully high in the sky the moon caught his eye.

She was beautiful, powerful; she touched something wild inside him.

His paws hit the pavement as he raced blindly away from the dream of what could never be; back to what was.

Who he really was.

****

“REX, COME BACK!”

 _“You’re an idiot! Stop stop stop what are you doing chasing a mad dog to heaven knows where in the middle of the night! You can’t do that in the middle of Columbus! You’re going to get killed! Just fucking stop!”_ Some wise voice in his head was screaming at him and yet Kurt’s legs carried him forward. There was something stronger, some instinct that urged him to follow Rex because damn it that was his best friend, his confidant, his solace, his....

“REX!” He shouted again, pleading for the dog to hear and to stop.

_“You’re crazy, Kurt Hummel. You’ve officially gone mad. STOP!”_

It was no use. He was a grown man and he liked to think he was self aware and practical but the moment he had felt that leash rip from his hands something had changed. He realized only when he was choking on them that he was sobbing. God he didn’t understand what was wrong with him! Dogs ran away sometimes. It was a fact of life. That didn’t mean he had to be an idiot and go chasing after it in the dark or fall to pieces like someone had just died.

_”What the hell’s the matter with you, Hummel? Stop crying! Get a grip! It’s a dog. You can put out signs in the morning and someone will find him. He probably saw a squirrel or something. He might even find his own way home.”_

He wouldn’t though. Somehow Kurt just knew that.

Even still Kurt forced himself to stop running. He blinked rapidly and made himself take in his surroundings as he came to a stop and fought for breath. Oh god was it normal for your chest to burn like this after running? He ran every day and wasn’t out of shape. What the hell?

He shook his head against the fresh tears that wanted to well up. He balled his fists and scolded himself aloud. “You are a grown man, Kurt. He is a dog, a great dog, but you aren’t going to cry for no damn reason. That dog is just a dog and you didn’t see anything in his eyes and you can’t know that he’s never coming back! Now just turn around and just…”

Go home he meant to say. Only there was one problem. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not yet. Kurt couldn’t have been less able to turn around and go home than if a chain had locked him to Rex. Something pulled him forward and Kurt Hummel was helpless but to follow.

****

He was wild. His lean body tapered with muscle was beautiful as it moved fluidly beneath the moonlight. Her supple fingers dancing across his inky black coat. Not that of a dog but of a wolf.

He was alpha again, not just any alpha but alpha major, and as he raced along dark streets he felt invincible.

He threw back his head and howled. Alerting every lycan within the vicinity of his presence. It was a challenge to all other alphas and a call to any of his that might have come to the city to find him. He did not fear attracting attention. He was in his prime and he had been through hell and back to earn his place as the alpha. He was sure of his abilities.

The full moon was an important time for his kind. It was the best time for everything. For days leading up to it lycan kind could feel the gathering power. It fed their blood and strengthened their bodies. Tempers ran high and fights to prove dominance were common. Their sexual appetite also increased, past the point of control for many an inexperienced adolescent..

The females went into heat and the males went into a sort of frenzy all their own. It was a hunters lust that could either be eased by the violence of a kill or the heat of sex and many wisely chose the later over the former. Whatever they chose, it all came to glorious collision on the full moon. It was a beautiful but a dangerous time. Many an unwary human had stumbled across a less than sane lycan in the middle of their moon haze. Getting bit was the least of their worries then. Getting dead was.

Normally it was part of Blaine’s job as an the alpha to closely monitor the less controlled members of his pack during the full moon. It was also his job to make sure his territories were free of rouge wolves who could wreak havoc and to chase them away. This full moon was different, not only because he wasn’t with the pack, but because for the first time since he’d been a protege he himself was having a hard time controlling his urges.

It started with the lust. He’d never felt such crippling need before. It clawed around in his belly, hot and sharp, making him keen as he ran. Why was it so strong? It had never been this strong before.

Something to do with that smell. That strange smell that was all over him....something sweet and spicy all at once.

Kurt.

_He belongs to you._

Feral urges tore at his good sense, feeding him images of claiming Kurt in such a way that he would be branded by Blaine forever. As owned as Blaine had been owned while he’d been Kurt’s pet and just as happy to be his possession. Yes. Yes that was what he wanted but no. No, he couldn’t listen. That would be disaster. He wasn’t particularly sane when he was in the moon haze. He would scare the shit out of Kurt and end up hurting him if he tried to claim him now.

He wasn’t going to claim him at all, he’d already decided that hadn’t he?

So instead of turning back Blaine howled at the moon to stop torturing him.

This time someone howled back.

Wes.

****

Kurt paused, going still at a distant eerie sound. He shivered. Were those wolves? Wolves in the middle of Columbus? No it had to be dogs; but he had never heard a dog that sounded like that. He wasn’t even sure an actual wolf could sound that animistic…that hungry.

_“You need to get out onto a lit street, Kurt. Survival instincts one-oh-one. This is not good. You need to go home.”_

****

“I’ve never been more glad to see you, Wes. But what are you doing here?” Blaine asked, gratefully taking the change of clothes from the tall Asian man’s hands. Putting on clothes was not as natural for Blaine as one would think. Though lycan’s lived quietly side by side with humans, among themselves walking around naked was not at all unusual. During the long months of the summer hunting season they rarely wore clothes at all. During the hunt the whole pack traveled to the hunting grounds to live out the summer in the woods; a place where there simply wasn’t need for clothes.

That and Blaine had just spent twelve months as a dog. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and Wes smirked at him.

“When Ian told us your release date was on a full moon I thought you might need our help. We thought for sure you’d be spitting mad and an enraged lycan in his moon haze in foreign territory was not a good combination.” Wes explained eyeing Blaine up and down as he finished dressing. “But, you don’t seem all that angry for a man who has spent twelve months as someone’s dog. I expected rage.”

Blaine couldn’t meet Wes’s eye. What was he going to say? Sorry friend no rage, I had a fantastic time as someone’s dog?

“Oh Blaine, you didn’t kill the poor idiot did you?” Wes asked and for the first time since their reunion his bright smile faltered.

“No!” Blaine shook his head. “Wes, come on. I just spent a year in hell for for killing one human, I’m not about to do it again.” He hoped his friend would drop it. He couldn’t really explain to him why he wasn’t suffering heavily from the rage part of moon haze. Nope, just the lust. God did he feel the lust. Where was Kurt? He wanted to...

Blaine slammed mental doors against the thoughts that wanted to take over his mind. He wasn’t some moon struck cub to be carried away by his urges. He was the alpha. He had to show control. He’d already failed his family once.

In the pocket of his pants the collar he’d removed from around his neck seemed to burn against his leg, reminding him of its presence. Of Kurt.

Wes watched Blaine quietly, his nose picking up the strong scent of arousal wafting off his leader. Even outside their wolf form a lycan’s sense of smell was acute. Jeff on the other hand was determinedly assuring Blaine that no one in the pack looked down on him for his crime and that if he had killed his human handler once his sentence was up no one would blame him for that either.

“Do you know what I would have done to some human who dared call _me_ a pet?”

“Nothing!” Blaine turned and snapped at him. Jeff winced and instantly lowered his head in submission under the full force of Blaine’s alpha voice. “You would show far more respect for life than you are showing now.” Jeff paled and nodded, though he was sure to keep his head down. Blaine felt bad for the teenager. He knew from experience that getting reamed by your alpha was never pleasant and if anything the teenagers attitude regarding humans wasn’t all that outside of the norm. Not far at all from his own...before Kurt.

“They may not always treat us well, Jeff,” Blaine gentled his voice and Jeff slowly looked up at him. “But they are people too and life is life. I made a mistake killing that hunter and you will not make my mistakes if I can help it. Understood?”

Jeff nodded and Blaine patted his back, suddenly feeling exhausted and in need of a weeks worth of sleep. He usually didn’t have to exert this much control during the full moon but the sudden change from common dog back into his natural form had left him disoriented and sluggish. He was fairing little better than a first year protege under the moon just then.

Wes watching the whole exchange began to chuckle. “And there’s that rage I expected. I thought being cooped up for so long would weaken your resistance to the moon. You must really be suffering if you’re using the defense of humans as a reason to snap at someone.”

Blaine growled at him. He couldn’t help it. He knew that Wes didn’t understand and that his friend never really could. After all that human kind had done to their people throughout history Wes’ distant disdain regarding humans was the best one could hope for from a lycan. Wes didn’t know what it was like to be owned by someone and he’d rather die first. Hadn’t Blaine himself thought the same thing once?

“Don’t growl at me, Blaine.” Wes just rolled his eyes at him. “I’m no riled up cub. You won’t catch me picking on humans.”

But the same could not be said for other wolves. In the distance somewhere behind them came the sound of howling. The hunters howl. Blaine frowned and sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent of the prowling wolf.

“Looks like one of pack Columbus has got the moon fever too. If the humans are smart they’ll stay in doors after hearing that.” Wes remarked, nodding towards the sound. “We should leave.”

Jeff scoffed and bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet. “No we can’t turn tail and run! You’re not supposed to hunt humans! Why can’t we stop him?” Carried away by his enthusiasm Jeff had already started to move towards the direction they’d heard the rouge wolf. Used to his protege's hot headed ways Wes quickly snagged him by the collar.

“Because this isn’t our territory, Jeff, Blaine isn’t up to full strength yet and you don’t really give a shit about what poor bastard that rouge finds. You just want to fight someone.”

“Be that as it may,” Blaine interrupted, his eyes glued to the north and his nose twitching. He had a strange feeling in his gut. He didn’t know if it was the moon or something else, but something about the rouges presence was setting him off. “I think we should check it out.”

****

It was a while before Kurt stopped looking for Rex. There was sweat beading on his brow and he couldn’t seem to stop his hands from shaking but he finally forced himself to turn around. Biting back tears he began the long walk home, trying not to be terrified at how each step in the opposite direction felt like he was stepping on glass.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He walked through the German village and nearly had a heart attack his heart was pounding so hard when a couple of men appeared out of nowhere and watched him scurrying down the dimly lit streets. He knew he should call Tina or Finn to come pick him up but he could barely keep himself walking towards home. He couldn’t get in a car and speed there, no fathomable reason why, he just couldn't. Maybe he would spot Rex on the way home.

Please?

Kurt was passing through Schiller Park (the same park he took Rex to every Saturday) wondering just who he was begging when he heard a sound behind him. He whirled around, peering through the darkness, but he didn’t see anything but the familiar sights of trees, grass, and water. Anything could have made that noise. A rodent or ducks nesting by the pond.

Kurt turned to start walking and there it was again, a quiet huffing sound. It sounded like…like… a dog panting he realized with sudden joy.

He turned quickly back around, peering deeper into the shadows between the trees, hoping against hope that Rex would come bounding out of them.

“Rex, is that you boy? Please be you. I’m going to kill you for making me worry like this.”

He felt a little foolish talking to himself in the middle of a park at night but he was sure he had heard the sound of a dog breathing. He was…

Screaming.

The animal that had just emerged from the shadows was not a dog. Kurt could honestly say it was the largest wolf he’d ever seen because it was in fact the _only_ wolf he had ever seen in person. It had a black grisly coat of fur and cold blue eyes that Kurt would have thought beautiful if they didn’t make his whole body seize up with terror at the hunger in them.The animal’s teeth were bared and it was snarling at him as it slowly advanced.

Kurt turned and bolted. Some useless voice in his head screamed the randomly remembered fact that you were never supposed to turn your back and run from a wild animal. Whoever had said that had never been in a deserted park with a wolf the size of a small horse.

But whoever they were, they were right, because Kurt didn’t make it more then three feet before he felt weight land on his back and he was knocked to the ground. He went down screaming and hit the ground rolling. He instinctively threw his arms up to cover his head and felt jaws clamp hard around the right one. Teeth tore through his coat and into his flesh and he screamed again. Behind the pain came a sharper stinging sensation and then his arm went completely numb. He had a strange moment of being really grateful for that.

He really shouldn’t have been. Even though he couldn’t feel the pain of the bite anymore he could still see dripping bloody fangs and cold blue eyes merely inches from his face. He wasn’t screaming anymore; he couldn’t. Kurt lay on the ground staring up at the beast above him paralyzed with fear.

****

Finding the rouges trail was easy. He was a young lycan, probably a fresh alpha-minor who would later be embarrassed to learn he’d lost control of himself. He wasn’t trying to hide his progress at all and it was easy for Blaine and his companions to track him to a park. A familiar park. Blaine had only to sniff in order to smell Kurt here they’d spent so many Saturdays roaming the area. The scent set his mouth to watering, his blood to burning. It made it that much harder to keep in control and it really would be just his luck that it would come at him so strong. As strong as if it were fresh.

Wait. It really _shouldn’t_ be so strong. Kurt couldn’t be...

At the first scream Blaine’s head whipped around. He dragged the wind into his nostrils, scenting for confirmation on what he already knew but what just couldn’t be. It couldn’t be! Kurt was at home, tucked into bed, probably worrying about him but safe from moon mad rouges.

 _“The rouges got someone.”_ Jeff confirmed his thoughts. His body writhed with pent up tension underneath his sandy coat. He was ready to go on the hunt but he kept still, waiting for a signal from the alpha.

Blaine knew the risks. He was half moon mad himself, weak from months of captivity and this wasn’t their territory, not their rouge to wrestle back into line. But none of that mattered because he would know the sound of Kurt’s voice anywhere and it was Kurt he had heard screaming.

_“I have to help him.”_

Blaine didn’t explain any further. He took off after the trail of the rouge, Wes and Jeff springing into action behind him.

 _“Blaine, is this wise? His own alpha will deal with him. We shouldn’t interfere with another pack’s wolves!”_ Wes called after him with obvious trepidation.

Blaine couldn’t stop. His only thought was for Kurt. So that was the only explanation he gave. Kurt.

_“He’s got my mate!”_

That was reason enough for Wes.

****

The wolf stared down at him, his cold hunter’s eyes boring in to Kurt’s. He didn’t know why the wolf hadn’t attacked yet but whatever the reason Kurt was too frightened to so much as swallow. He held himself completely still, certain that any movement would send the animal above him on the attack. That is he tried to stay completely still. When his arm went from cold and numb to hot and wracked with spasms within seconds he could not help but scream and thrash against the intense waves of pain.

The wolf lunged and Kurt closed his eyes.

He heard an impact but it took a moment for his fevered brain to realize that he hadn’t felt one. He heard the sound of the wolf snarling and vicious growls but he felt no teeth tearing into his flesh.

Kurt’s eyes flew open and he gaped in horrified awe at the picture before him of the wolf battling with another. This one was also black though not as big, but it was faster, stronger and focused in it’s brutality in a way that made Kurt’s stomach churn to watch. The new wolf was methodically tearing the other apart and when it was done it was going to do the same to him.

Kurt’s last thought as the pain in his arm increased and he slipped out of consciousness was that at least he wasn’t going to be awake to feel it.

****

 _“Stop, Blaine! You’re going to kill him!”_ Wes’ voice broke through the haze in Blaine’s mind, pulling him back from the maddening blood lust that had overtaken him. Wes had tackled him, pulling him off the rouge who now lay motionless in the dirt, keening painfully. Jeff had gone over to inspect the form of the pale human male collapsed only a few feet away. The sight of Kurt pale and bloodied only made Blaine angrier.

 _“Good!”_ He snarled vehemently lunging for the wolf again but Wes kept him pinned.

_“Calm yourself! Do you want another year in a kennel? You can’t do this again, Blaine, the pack needs you and if that really is your mate over there I’d say he needs you too.”_

Kurt. Wes was right. Blaine could smell his blood. Kurt needed him. He flipped his body out from under Wes, ignoring his friends indigent squeal. He was at Kurt’s side an instant later, licking at his wounds. Jeff watched him curiously, his eyes wide with awe, tongue poking out as he panted.

 _“This is your mate, Blaine?”_ He asked with unconcealed happiness and Blaine felt a flash of warmth despite his worry. Finding a mate was a thing to celebrate in any circumstance.

 _“How did you manage to find a mate while doing kennel time?”_ Wes asked as he came to stand beside him.

Blaine didn’t have to answer that. He knew the exact moment when Wes and Jeff got a good whiff of Kurt. They’d know of course that he wasn’t lycan and they’d be able to smell the other thing he’d done as well.

 _“Why does he smell like brethren, Wes?”_ Jeff asked in confusion, nudging Kurt’s still form with his nose.

_”Because he is. I made him ly-kindred. He is one of ours now.”_

_“Oh my god, Blaine. Don’t tell me.”_ Wes implored, moving closer to Blaine. His voice had gone high pitched and reedy with surprise.

 _“I know I know! But you don’t know him, Wes. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he was worthy. He so is, and he’s mine! That’s all there is to it.”_ Blaine knew what Wes had to be thinking, what the others would think if they ever heard about it. Blaine knew because he knew what his father would have said if he’d been alive to learn that his son, an alpha, had fallen for a human.

 _“Did it happen before or after fetch? That’s all I want to know._ ”’

 _“Shut up you moron.”_ Blaine tried to bite him but years of friendship had taught Wes to be wary of his alpha’s moods. He danced out of harms way, laughing uproariously like they were a couple of cubs again.

 _“It’s alright, Blaine. Wes just hasn’t really smelled him yet. Seriously, Wes, get a good drag, he’s fucking delicious.”_ Jeff started licking Kurt’s face and something like jealousy twisted around in Blaine’s stomach.

 _“Don’t do that! He hates having his face licked. Besides it’s undignified. You’re a wolf not a poodle. Stop it, Jeff!”_ At his alpha’s snap Jeff quickly backed away and that little display sent Wes into a fresh wave of howls.

Blaine would order him to shut up but what was the point of that? He knew it wouldn’t do him any good, not in the long run. He could understand why Wes thought it was so funny. He of all people had gone and fallen in love with his human jailer.

Well life was ironic sometimes but Blaine wasn’t going to waste time moping about it.

What he was going to do now that he could think again was get Kurt safely home like he should have done in the first place. Then he was going to quietly disappear. They weren’t fully mated yet, which meant that they could go their separate ways. Kurt would find some simpleminded human to be with and if the guy had half a brain cell he’d hold on to Kurt and make him happy. Blaine would go back to the pack and do his job and one day fall in love again and this time mate for life. Or not. Not every wolf mated.

He could live with that.

Besides Kurt was clearly better off without him because his selfishness had nearly gotten him killed. What the hell had he been thinking making him ly-kindred? His was a bloody, savage world, and while Blaine found happiness in it, humans were made of decidedly softer stuff. Not that Blaine thought Kurt was weak but he _was_ human and he’d fainted in the middle of a dangerous fight when he was surrounded by enemies. With instincts like that lycan culture would chew him up and spit him back out.

Something about how pale and still Kurt was bothered Blaine though. It wasn’t just that Kurt had fainted. After all being attacked by a wolf by human standards was pretty deserving of a good faint...but it just didn’t seem like Kurt. He had never been in any sort of danger with Kurt before but he knew better than anyone that he was no stranger to pain. Kurt had learned the hard way to face anything life threw his way head on. And he did, with the staunch courage of a survivor. He had an inner core of metal running through him that Blaine had been able to see from that first day when they’d stared each other down in the Tail and Paw.

No fainting wasn’t right. Attacked, he had no doubt that if he was able Kurt Hummel would do everything he could to get back on his feet again. Worried anew, Blaine nudged his still body, pushing him over onto his back. His nostrils were instantly filled with the scent of dirt, blood, Kurt’s unique scent and... magic. He could smell that sickly sweet musk just beneath everything else.

Oh no.

Blaine didn’t need to see the angry bite on his bloodied arm to know what his nose was already telling him.

The rouge hadn’t been trying to kill Kurt at all.

****

Pav twittered like a fiend when Blaine opened the door to Kurt’s home and carried him inside. Jeff and Wes followed behind him, offering guiding hands when it was needed.

“This place looks like something out of a magazine,” Jeff remarked taking in Kurt’s front room and Blaine nodded. Kurt did have a great eye for design.

“Don’t get mud on anything. He’d hunt you down,” Blaine warned and Jeff snorted.

“A human?” He asked with disbelief picking up a pair of crystal birds off of an end table to examine.

“No.” Wes corrected him as he snatched the ornaments away from the teen. “A lycan.”

And Wes had the right of it. Kurt was one of them now. On the next full moon he was going to enter their world whether he liked it or not. His choice was gone and it was all Blaine’s fault.

He carried Kurt to the bedroom and laid him on the bed, gently though he knew Kurt wouldn’t wake up; the magic had a firm grip on him.

“Should we wait here or find other lodging for the night?” Wes asked from the bedroom doorway, hip cocked, long legs leaning out from the frame. Blaine didn’t look up at him. He stared down at Kurt, the even paler than usual cast to his face making him flush with guilt. He’d done this.

Once again he’d messed up, failed his duty and someone he loved had paid the price.

“I’m so sorry, Kurt. I was so arrogant.” Blaine whispered as he brushed the hair that had fallen down across Kurt’s brow back into place. “I thought I knew what was best for you and by the time I realized that it wasn’t, the damage was already done. And then I had to go and be stupid. I forced you to watch me run away rather than face the fact that I’ve never felt about anything the way that I do you. I don’t... I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know that I don’t want to do it without you anymore. I can’t. You move me to feel in ways I never thought I could feel. You’re my mate. I’m sorry that means you have to lose everything.”

Blaine bit his lip. He absolutely wouldn’t cry.

“You know, Blaine, he’s going to feel completely human for a while.” Wes remarked from the door. “When the moon begins to thicken again his body will start preparing for the change but until then....”

“Until then let him have his life,” Blaine finished for him.

The life he wanted to live with his family and his friends. Not running in the wilderness and hiding his uniqueness from wolf hunters. Not watching his loved ones die as he lived on.

“He’s going to hate me, Wes. I’d hate me,” Blaine admitted sadly.

“Blaine, if he’s your mate then he can’t hate you. Not really.”

“But I chose him, Wes. He didn’t choose me. I gave myself to him, not the other way around. He doesn’t know me as a man and has no reason to trust me. Now I’ve taken his whole world away. He’ll hate me and he’ll have every right to.”

Wes crossed the room and laid a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. He said nothing but he didn’t need to. The contact alone was enough. Blaine sighed. Wes as usual was right. His pity party needed to be over. What was done was done and he had a pack to return to.

Blaine leaned down and whispered into Kurt’s ear, willing his words to reach the mind that he knew was held in thrall as it was altered by magic.

“I have to go now, Kurt. I have to see to my family and I have to get them ready for you. We’ve never had a convert before. Our pack has had a rough history with humans. I... I need to get them ready to meet you, but don’t worry I won’t ever let anything hurt you again. I’ll be gone for a few weeks. A few weeks is all the time I can give you of the life I know you want so hold it close because after that I have to come and get you.” Blaine brushed the hair back away from Kurt’s eyes again, his hand a little unsteady as it moved.

“You’ll be fine. I’ve never met anyone with as much courage as you. You put me to shame, and that’s why I promise, I promise you, Kurt, you’ll be happy. Whatever I have to do to make that happen. Even if you decide you don’t want me, you’ll always have that, and me. I’m yours, Kurt, even if you’re never mine.”

Blaine trailed a finger down Kurt’s smooth cheek, invoking all of his senses. If Kurt could not hear him then please, let him feel it as he traced the letters of his name across his cheek and over his lips. R-E-X. Rex after a tragic king.

Blaine felt the magic behind the touch. It tingled in his palms and made his heart start to race.

“Blaine.” Wes urged him gently and Blaine nodded.

Dragging himself from the bed Blaine followed Wes from the room. He paused for a moment in the doorway to look back at Kurt’s sleeping form. Maybe it was premature, maybe it made him a fool but he felt something like hope as he took in his last glimpse of Kurt.

“See you when the moon is full, Kurt,” he whispered to the sleeping form of his mate. Though Kurt did not reply his hope seemed to strengthen with the rise and fall of his chest. Was it going to be easy? Probably not. But nothing in Blaine’s life had been thus far.

Whatever the trials before them Blaine was certain of one thing. He’d found his one, the only one. Heaven only knew nothing got between a wolf and his mate.

THE END  
 _For now._

**Author's Note:**

> Much of the werewolf lore and world used in this fic are based on world building my friend Rosheen and I came up with a couple of years ago. This short fic which was a birthday present intended to amuse a good friend on her birthday, is an adaption on a short story she wrote that I had permission to make. Its sequal, Mangaiere, branches away from the source material as I wanted the joy of creating my own world with its own rules. :) I guess you could call it an Au of an Au.


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